Monday is final Sumter school board meeting before rezoning vote, first chance for public participation since vote to let Martin-Knox walk away

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Sumter School District's Board of Trustees will meet Monday night at Ebenezer Middle School, and seats are expected to fill up early.

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NOTE: The meeting agenda was updated on Saturday morning, after this article was released. Continue reading on the update here: https://www.theitem.com/stories/sumter-school-district-amends-monday-meeting-agenda-to-get-legal-advice-on-pending-claim-from,379616. 

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The school board meeting marks the first opportunity for public participation since the trustees' impromptu, split vote informed former superintendent Penelope Martin-Knox to walk away from her job four months early on Feb. 28. The trustees will also discuss the district's mask mandate and potentially vote on the matter, according to the agenda, which was posted Friday.

It will also be the last time for the general public to directly address the full board on district-wide rezoning of school attendance lines before the trustees vote on the matter at the end of the month.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m.  at 3440 Ebenezer Road near the Dalzell area and in the school's gym.

Like all regularly scheduled board meetings on the second Monday of the month, public participation basically leads off the agenda. Any member of the public wanting to make a comment to the board on any topic must arrive before the 6 p.m. start time - as early as 5:30 p.m. - and complete a form to speak.

Regarding the impromptu 5-4 vote made at the end of the Feb. 28 meeting to let Martin-Knox walk away now, a motion and vote that was not on the agenda, Trustee Daryl McGhaney raised a motion to pay the superintendent the remaining balance of her contract through June 30 and leave, effective immediately.

Trustees voting in favor of the motion included McGhaney, Frank Baker, Johnny Hilton, Matthew "Mac" McLeod and Sherril Ray. Those against included board Chairwoman Barbara Jackson, Brian Alston, Shawn Ragin and Gloria Lee.

Jay Bender, legal counsel for the S.C. Press Association, said the motion, vote and ensuing action to name district Chief of Schools Brenda Hafner as lead administrator were illegal under the Freedom of Information Act because they were not listed on the meeting agenda. Martin-Knox said at the time of the motion that she was not in agreement with the terms.

Bender said the board effectively terminated her contract even though "termination" was not used in the motion.

Since then, the board has not addressed the concern. The board majority has also refused to say why they wanted Martin-Knox gone sooner than her contract expired or at all. There were no apparent disagreements surfaced in public meetings and only a few via emails and texts obtained by The Sumter Item. However, only the trustees voting in the minority and Martin-Knox complied with multiple Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by the newspaper.

The board had a special-called meeting on its current superintendent search on Monday and carried forth with business as usual with Hafner sitting in the superintendent's seat.

After public participation and a few other items, realignment project consultant Matthew Cropper of Cropper GIS Consulting will address the board virtually. The board's Transportation Study Ad-Hoc Committee (aka realignment committee) has its final regularly scheduled meeting with Cropper GIS later in the week, on Thursday, to formulate recommendations to be presented to the full board on March 28. The consultant always addresses the full board just before a committee meeting.

The school board and Cropper still emphasize the public can provide input and comments on the project website. From sumterrealignment.com, click on the "General Feedback Form" icon. All feedback is weighed with how it is in line with the project's criteria or parameters.

For those not physically attending Monday, the district continues to broadcast meetings live on YouTube.

Anyone wanting to attend the meeting virtually can do so via YouTube Sumter School District Board Meeting and the district's Facebook page, @SumterSCSchools.

The meeting agenda was updated on Saturday morning, after this article was released. Continue reading on the update here: https://www.theitem.com/stories/sumter-school-district-amends-monday-meeting-agenda-to-get-legal-advice-on-pending-claim-from,379616.